GENERAL HOSPITAL: SHOWDOWN WITH A KILLER
by Deborah Hanson

EXCITING ESCAPE STORY BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE
(Selected from TV Superstars, March 1981)

Luke Spencer had one thing to live for--Laura Baldwin's love. He knew their life together was a thing as fragile and tenuous as the moonlight that lit her face while she slept here in his arms. A killer waited for them at every turn. Their past was meaningless; they could never return to the lives they'd known in Port Charles. The future? There was no future living on the run. If they survived from one day to the next they were beating the odds. With the key to $10 million in gold bullion in his back pocket and the biggest crime syndicate in America gunning for him, Luke figured every card in the deck was stacked against him. Now he prayed Laura wouldn't be destroyed, too.

Luke looked around him and wondered how they'd ever come so far. They had found shelter in a barn, but Luke wondered what the morning might bring. Did Laura have the courage to face up to whatever it might be? It had been her own decision to help him in his desperate escape--but could he hope to save her when he wasn't sure he could save himself?

If he closed his eyes now, Luke could see the disco lights swirling and hear the persistent beat of the music while dancers on the packed floor swayed to the rhythm. He'd thought managing the Campus Disco was going to be his ticket to Easy Street. It was a class club and with Laura waiting tables it was even classier. When Luke met Laura she'd needed his help. She'd gotten herself into debt buying law books for her husband, Scotty. Luke gave her a loan and she insisted on repaying his generosity by working nights at the disco.

Luke's dream of success dimmed when he realized how his boss, Mr. Smith, operated--on the wrong side of the law. Laura came to represent all that was good and clean and worthwhile in life. When Smith's organization marked Luke for murder he refused to die without knowing Laura's love. He called it love; Laura called it rape. Later he realized how he'd brutalized her and she came to know how true his love had been. In her youthful innocence Laura tried to deny the passion she felt for Luke. Luke's sense of honor, and his devotion to Laura, kept him at arms length--and then further. Luke decided to cash in his ticket to Easy Street and marry the boss's daughter, Jennifer Smith.

Luke vowed that after his marriage he would stay out of Laura's life forever--but they had one thing left to settle first. He had to make her promise that she would never tell her husband the identity of her rapist. And the only way he could be sure of her silence was to make her confess her love for him. It only took a few minutes alone before she began responding to his kisses, and his embrace. She told him she loved him and wanted him to make love to her. Luke said, "If you love me you can't believe that night in the disco was rape. You'd be telling a lie." Laura knew that he was right--she did love him. But she wasn't ready to betray her husband, Scotty.

On the eve of Luke's marriage to Jennifer, Laura wrote a testament of her love for him in a letter which ultimately sealed their fate. Laura's husband found the letter and all the confusion, betrayal and hatred for the man who'd "raped" his wife suddenly exploded in rage against Luke Spencer, a man he thought was his friend. He'd kill Luke, he vowed, and rushed to Frank Smith's yacht, where Luke's wedding to Jennifer was about to be held. Minutes before the wedding march began Scotty appeared and lunged at Luke. During the fight Luke went overboard and was presumed drowned.

When Laura arrived at the scene they were already dragging the harbor for Luke's body. As she walked to the end of the dock a hand suddenly grabbed her ankle. "Help me, Laura," Luke pleaded, rising out of the water. "I'm a dead man if Mr. Smith finds me."

A month had gone by since then and Luke now realized Laura had given up her life that day as surely as if she'd signed her own death certificate. Now laying here together in the early morning hours, Luke held her tight wishing she could sleep on safely instead of waking to another day of running and terror. Then Luke heard the barn door swing open and there stood a man who was to become their first benefactor--Mr. Whittiker [sic]. There was a Mrs. Whittiker, too, who just happened to have a big breakfast cooking up at the house. "You poor kids," Mr. Whittiker said, "I was young once myself and in love. If you need a place to stay, the Mrs. and I can rent you a room."

Luke and Laura became residents of Beecher's Corners, a town half way between where they'd come from and where they were going. Luke became "Lloyd" and Laura became his wife "Lucy Johnson." The Whittikers gave them a room upstairs--but they never would have guessed the "newlyweds" didn't share the same bed!

Laura was only 18 years old. She was still married to Scotty even though she admitted her love for Luke. When she gave herself to Luke it would be without any reservations and when she was legally free of Scotty. The first night they'd spent together on the run was a sodden and sorry mess. Luke had been beaten and nearly drowned. Laura was terrified and confused. They rented a room in a seedy but otherwise nondescript motel because they couldn't scrape up enough money to leave town. It was not a very romantic setting. And when Laura glanced down at her wedding ring she drew away from Luke and made him sleep in the bathtub.

They must decode Mr. Smith's black book, Laura kept repeating. When they succeeded in finding the Lefthanded Boy and turning Mr. Smith over to the police they could start planning their life together. But the noose around their necks kept drawing tighter. The code was impossible to figure out and they were running out of money. Laura jeopardized their lives even more by pawning the medallion Jennifer had given Luke as a wedding present. It took only a few hours before everyone in Port Charles knew that Luke was still alive and Laura was with him. Scotty told newspaper reporters his wife was a "tramp" and Frank Smith put out a contract on their lives.

Luke and Laura weren't the only ones whose lives were threatened. Frank Smith was determined to coax Luke out of hiding so he ordered his thugs to terrorize Luke's aunt Ruby and sister Bobbi [sic]. Bobbi's apartment was ransacked and a few days later aunt Ruby was beaten nearly to death. Luke and Laura, holed up in a motel, read the news in the paper. Luke, blind with rage, was ready to run to the hospital, but Laura begged him not to go. "It's too dangerous. Smith has set a trap for you. He's just waiting for you to run to Ruby. Please, Luke, don't go!" But Luke had to go and by taking every precaution he succeeded. That was all Luke could do. Until he decoded the black book he was powerless against Frank Smith and the organization. Luke prayed for his aunt's recovery and vowed he would make it up to her by destroying Frank Smith. But first he had to save himself and protect Laura.

But in Beecher's Corners, Laura felt safe--at least for the time being. When they moved into their room Laura made one important change in the interior decoration. "I saw this in a movie once," she told Luke, "It Happened One Night. We just have to tie up this rope, hang a blanket over it and we'll both have privacy." Luke took one look at her concealment contraption and wondered, "Oh, when will the walls of Jericho come tumblin' down?" He had a long wait, he knew. Laura was always so near yet still so untouchable. He remembered the last night they'd spent together in Port Charles, the night they spent in Windoms [sic] department store.

They had to get clothes and disguises and they needed a place to spend the night. They had brazened their way through the whole day posing as Parisian hairdressers "borrowing" a black wig to cover Laura's blonde hair.

Then they hid out until the store was locked up. The night was theirs and they were like two kids set loose in a candy store. It was make believe and they played it to the hilt. She was all in red--a chiffon gown afloat with feathers. He was a young Fred Astaire in white tie and tails. They dined on caviar and sipped champagne. He couldn't recall where the music came from but he remembers "Fascination" playing in the background while they waltzed through the aisles. Yes, it was a beautiful memory--but the rest was a nightmare. In the morning they found the dead body of the night watchman at their feet. He had been shot by an unknown gunman with a silencer while they slept. Had he been looking for them? They didn't have time to figure that out; they had to run for their lives.

Aside from the rather uncomfortable and frustrating sleeping arrangements, Beechers Corners seemed like a pretty nice place to be. Mr. Whittiker promised to help them find jobs. He called Ma and Pa Cochran's Diner and got "Lloyd" and "Lucy" jobs as a short-order cook and waitress. When the newlywed couple arrived at the diner they found another newcomer mopping the floors. It was Hutch. "You got any other name to go with that?" Luke asked. "Yes," said the blond boyish face, "Jefferson Smith Hutchins."

Hutch was a friend, Laura thought. He was a foe, Luke was sure. To Luke, Hutch was too true to be good. He had a face so charming, Luke knew it had to be a mask, and his nature was so open and honest he had to be lying. Luke was sensitive to anything that seemed like danger because he had to protect Laura's life. They were so on edge that when dear Mrs. Whittiker pulled her husband's hunting rifle from the rack, Luke pushed Laura off her chair and covered her body with his. Two seconds later they realized how absurd this must look to Mrs. Whittiker and Luke mumbled something about "Viet Nam" and "gun-shy."

Later, in the privacy of their room, Luke held Laura in his arms while she trembled, still shaken by the incident. "You saved my life down there," she said to Luke. "I mean, if she had tried to kill us you would have died saving me. You threw yourself in front of me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't appreciate you enough." Luke knew at that moment he was watching a girlchild become a woman--his woman. Laura was beginning to understand the danger they faced and she was learning to love Luke not as the bad boy from Port Charles but as the man who would give his life for hers.

Luke and a feeling their time in Beecher's Corners was coming to an end. When they arrived at the diner one morning to see their pictures plastered across the front page of the newspaper, Luke knew the time had come. But their leaving was postponed when Hutch took it upon himself to burn all the newspapers, thus giving them a few days' grace.

That time of freedom came to an end just days later when Captain Ramsey from Port Charles homicide arrived in Beecher's Corners asking a lot of questions. That night Luke and Laura packed up to leave town. They made it as far as the Whittikers' barn but a raging thunder storm kept them from going farther. They found comfort in each other's arms. As they lay together they had no idea a man with a knife was hiding in the shadows.

With Hutch's help they survived the attack but there was no time to be wasted. They had to get to Fair Oaks where they hoped for a final showdown with the killer sent after them. They asked Hutch to team up with them.

Their lives were worth nothing more than the black book they carried with them. When they reached Fair Oaks they walked into one of the best laid traps ever set. They'd run right into a deadly obstacle course devised by Frank Smith. They knew they were being watched but they didn't know by whom. Everytime [sic] they tried to smoke out the killer they found out he was one step ahead of them.

They'd forgotten an important rule of thumb: when you're looking for trouble always start in your own backyard. In this case they didn't have to look any farther than their new employer, "Sally." She was playing a doubly devious game--a game with rules so complicated even Hutch didn't know the score. Hutch had pushed his too far--he was now number three on Frank Smith's hit parade. The jig was almost up.

Luke had retrieved the black book and hidden it in a locker at the bus station. Laura was the only one who knew how to find the key to open the locker. Luke gave Laura exact instructions on what to do if anything should happen to him.

"If anything happens to you," she said, "I'm going to be with you. Why do you shut me out? I've come this far and I'm not going to leave you now."

"Thank you," was all Luke could say. How could he tell her that the love, loyalty and devotion she was showing him was more than he'd ever had in his life? Laura was no longer just a little girl who needed protection. She had become a woman who would stand by her man and fight for his life if she had to. He loved her more at that moment that he'd ever thought possible.

"I'd rather die, than die inside without you," Laura said, as she reached up to hold on to Luke for dear life. But when she said those words, Luke knew they wouldn't die. Somehow they would survive and when the running was over they would have each other to hold on to for the rest of their lives.

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